Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca (Jerez de la Frontera, c. 1488/1490/1492[1] – Seville, c. 1557/1558/1559[1]/1560[2]) was a Spanishexplorer of the New World, one of four survivors of the 1527 Narváez expedition. During eight years of traveling across the US Southwest, he became a trader and shaman to various Native American tribes before reconnecting with Spanish colonial forces in Mexico in 1536. After returning to Spain in 1537, he wrote an account, first published in 1542 as La Relación ("The Relation", or in more modern terms "The Account"[3]), which in later editions was retitled Naufragios ("Shipwrecks"). Cabeza de Vaca has been considered notable as a proto-anthropologist for his detailed accounts of the many tribes of American Indians that he encountered.

However, some critics argue against this claim and categorize him with a group of writers who had motives to present their work in a positive light for the king, who supported the expedition and could continue financial assistance for successful ventures.[4]

In 1540 Cabeza de Vaca was appointed adelantado of then present-day Argentina, where he was governor and captain general of Río de la Plata.[5] He aimed to re-establish the settlement of Buenos Aires due to the poor administration. Cabeza de Vaca was then transported to Spain for trial in 1545. Although his sentence was eventually commuted, he never returned to the Americas. He died in Seville.

Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca was born around 1490 into a hidalgo family, the son of Francisco de Vera and Teresa Cabeza de Vaca y de Zurita, in the town of Jerez de la Frontera, Cadiz, Spain. Despite the family's status as minor nobility, they possessed modest economic resources. In 16th-century documents, his name appears as "Alvar Nuñez Cabeza de Vaca".[6]

Coat of Arms of Cabeza de Vaca from the Archivo de Indias, Sevilla, Spain. Reprinted in The Odyssey of Cabeza de Vaca by Morris Bishop. New York The Century Co., 1933.

Álvar Núñez inherited the last portion of his name, Cabeza de Vaca (meaning “head of cow”) from a maternal ancestor, Martin Alhaja after showing the Spanish king a secret mountain pass using a cow’s skull enabling the king to win the battle of Las Navas de Tolosa against the Muslim Moors in 1212.[5]

Some sources indicate that after his parents died while he was at a young age, he moved in with relatives (most likely his aunt and uncle or his paternal grandfather, Pedro de Vara). Evidence suggests that he probably had a moderately comfortable early life. He was appointed chamberlain for the house of a noble family in his teen years (American Eras). He was also one of the conquerors and a governor of the Canary Islands.[5] In 1511, he then enlisted in the Spanish army and served in Italy (with distinction), Spain and Navarre.[2] In 1527 he joined the Florida expedition of Panfilo de Narvaéz as treasurer and marshal.[2]

Route of Narváez expedition (until November 1528 at Galveston Island), and a historical reconstruction of Cabeza de Vaca's later wanderings.

In 1527, an explorer named Pánfilo de Narváez was sent by Spain’s King Charles I to explore the unknown territory of a land the Spanish called La Florida, present day Florida.[7] Cabeza de Vaca was attached to this expedition as the expedition’s treasurer. Although, records indicate that he had another more military role and was one of the chief officers on the Narváez expedition.[8] On June 17, 1527 a fleet of five ships set sail towards the Mexican province of Pánuco (which was on the western border of Florida). When they stopped in Hispaniola for supplies Narváez lost approximately 150 of his men who preferred to stay in Hispaniola instead of exploring Florida.[9]

The expedition continued to Cuba and Cabeza de Vaca was sent out with two ships to pick up more men and supplies. However, their fleet was battered by a hurricane which resulted in the two ships being destroyed and the death of most of Cabeza de Vaca’s men. Narváez arrived days later to pick up the survivors.[10][11] The expedition was ready to set sail again in February of 1528 and in April they anchored near what is now Tampa Bay, claiming this land as a lawful possession of the Spanish empire.

After communicating with the Native Americans the Spanish heard rumours about a city full of food and gold named Apalachen. Against the advice of Cabeza de Vaca, Narváez decided to split up his men. Half would go on foot to Apalachen and the other would sail to Pánuco.[12] It turned out that Apalachen was not full of gold but only of corn, so they decide to head to the village of Aute. The Native Americans ambushed the explorers constantly which resulted in the death and wounding of many. When they arrived in Aute they found that the inhabitants had burned down the village, leaving the un-harvested fields from which the Spaniards ate.[13] After several months of fighting native inhabitants through wilderness and swamp, the party decided to abandon Aute and try to reach Pánuco. Slaughtering and eating their horses, they used stirrups, spurs, horseshoes and other metal items, and fashioned a bellows from deer hide to make a fire hot enough to forge tools and nails. They constructed five primitive boats to use in search of Mexico. Cabeza de Vaca commanded one of these vessels, each of which had room for only 50 men. Depleted of food and water, the men followed the coast westward, until they reached the mouth of the Mississippi River. When the current swept them into the Gulf, the five rafts were separated by a hurricane, some lost forever, including that of Narváez.

Two crafts with about 40 survivors each, including Cabeza de Vaca, wrecked on or near Galveston Island (now part of Texas). Out of the 80 or so survivors, only 15 lived past the winter.[14] The explorers called the island Malhado (“Ill fate” in Spanish), or the Island of Doom.[15] They tried to repair the rafts, using what remained of their own clothes as oakum to plug holes, but they lost the rafts to a large wave. As the number of survivors dwindled rapidly, they were enslaved for a few years by various American Indian tribes of the upper Gulf Coast. Because of Cabeza de Vaca not only surviving but also prospering from time to time, it is argued that this so-called “slavery” that Cabeza de Vaca spoke about was merely a figure of speech. Because they were noblemen accustomed to better living, the harsh weather along with the having to work like native women must have felt like slavery.[16] These tribes that Cabeza de Vaca was a slave to include the Hans and the Capoques, and tribes later called the Karankawa and Coahuiltecan. After escaping, only four men, Cabeza de Vaca, Andrés Dorantes de Carranza, Alonso del Castillo Maldonado, and an enslaved Moroccan Berber named Esteban (later called Estevanico), survived and escaped to reach Mexico City.

Traveling mostly in this small group, Cabeza de Vaca explored what is now the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the northeastern Mexican states of Tamaulipas, Nuevo León and Coahuila, and possibly smaller portions of New Mexico and Arizona. He traveled on foot through the then-colonized territories of Texas and the coast. He continued through Coahuila and Nueva Vizcaya; then down the Gulf of California coast to what is now Sinaloa, Mexico, over a period of roughly eight years. Throughout those years acclimating to the lives of the indigenous people he lived with. Whether they were Roots People, the Fish and Blackberry People, or the Fig People.[17]

During his wanderings, passing from tribe to tribe, Cabeza de Vaca developed sympathies for the indigenous population. He became a trader and a healer, which allowed him the freedom he had desired to travel among the tribes. As a healer Cabeza de Vaca also used blowing and chanting (like the Native Americans) to heal but claimed that God and the Christian cross led to his success.[18] His healing of the sick gained him such notoriety as a faith healer that he and his companions gathered a large following of natives who regarded them as "children of the sun", endowed with the power to both heal and destroy. As Cabeza de Vaca grew healthier, he decided that he would make his way to Pánuco, supporting himself through trading.[19][20][11] However, he eventually shook that idea away and decided to head towards the Spanish colony in Mexico. Because of his notoriety as a faith healer many natives accompanied the men across what is now the American Southwest and northern Mexico.

After finally reaching the colonized lands of New Spain, where he encountered fellow Spaniards near modern-day Culiacán, Cabeza de Vaca reached Mexico City. From there he sailed back to Europe in 1537. Numerous researchers have struggled to trace the exact route traveled by Cabeza de Vaca. As he did not begin writing his chronicle until back in Spain, he had to rely on memory. Cabeza de Vaca was uncertain of his route. Aware that his account has numerous errors in chronology and geography, historians have worked to put together pieces of the puzzle to discern his paths.

In March of 1542 Cabeza de Vaca meet with Domingo Martínez de Irala and relieved him of his position as governor. The government of Asunción pledged loyalty to Cabeza de Vaca, and Irala was sent out to explore a possible route to Peru. Once he returned and reported to Cabeza de Vaca, Cabeza de Vaca planned his own expedition. He hoped to reach Los Reyes (a base that Irala set up) and push forward into the jungle in search of a route to the gold and silver mines of Peru.[23] The expedition did not go well and Cabeza de Vaca took his expedition back to Asunción.[21]

During his absence, political rivalries led by Irala stirred up resistance to Cabeza de Vaca’s rule.[21] There is a general consensus that Cabeza de Vaca had an unusually benevolent attitude towards the Native Americans.[24][25][11] The elite settlers in Argentina, known as encomenderos, generally did not agree with his enlightened conduct toward the Natives; they wanted to use them for labor. His loss of the elite support, together with the failure of Buenos Aires as a settlement, prompted the former governor Domingo Martínez de Irala to arrest Cabeza de Vaca for poor administration in 1544. The former explorer was returned to Spain for trial in 1545.

Although eventually exonerated, Cabeza de Vaca never returned to the colony. He wrote an extensive report on South America, which was highly critical of Martínez de Irala. The report was bound with his earlier La Relación and published under the title Comentarios (Commentary). He died poor in Seville around the year 1558.

La relación of Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca is the account of his experiences on what is now known as Galveston Island, Texas. In November of 1528, Cabeza de Vaca and his depleted crew of three men were shipwrecked on the island and subsequently struggled to survive.[26] They wandered along the Texas coast as prisoners of the Han and Capoque American Indians for two years, while Cabeza de Vaca observed the people, picking up their ways of life and customs.[27]

In 1537, Cabeza de Vaca returned to Spain and also wrote his narratives of the expedition. These narratives were collected and published in 1542 in Spain. They are now known as “The Relation of Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca”. The narrative of Cabeza de Vaca is the “first European book devoted completely to North America.”[28] His account is a detailed look into the lives of American Indians of the time. Cabeza de Vaca showed compassion and respect for native peoples, which, together with the great detail he recorded, distinguishes his narrative from others.[28]

In the narrative, Cabeza de Vaca reported on the customs and ways of American Indian life. Aware of his status as an early European explorer, Cabeza de Vaca closely observed the native people and noted their culture. He spent eight years with various groups, including the Capoque, Han, Avavares, and Arbadaos. He describes details of the culture of the Malhado people, the Capoque, and Han American Indians, such as their treatment of offspring, their wedding rites, and their main sources of food.[27] Cabeza de Vaca and his three fellow survivors at times served as slaves to the American Indians to keep alive.[26] Through his observations, Cabeza de Vaca served as a guide to early American Indian life near the present-day Mexico-Texas border.

Cabeza de Vaca wrote this narrative to Charles V to “transmit what I saw and heard in the nine years I wandered lost and miserable over many remote lands”.[27] He wanted to convey “not merely a report of positions and distances, flora and fauna, but of the customs of the numerous indigenous people I talked with and dwelt among, as well as any other matters I could hear of or observe”.[27] He was careful about being factual, in the manner of his position as an accountant. “The Relation of Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca” is the only account of many details concerning the indigenous people whom he encountered.[27] His account has been validated by later reports of others, as well as by the oral traditions of descendants of some of the tribes.

While his story has been largely corroborated, many scholars still question if he had any personal motives that may have biased his account. For instance, he was using the report to not only give a detailed account of his time in the Americas, but also as a stepping stone to increased prestige in Spain. Due to this, scholars argue that in order to better his image as an explorer, he had motivation to report the human rights violations that Narvaez leveled against the native peoples before his death. Some academics are puzzled as to why he failed to do so, suggesting that there are some mysteries remaining in regards to his motives for writing The Relation the way that he did.[29]

Cabeza De Vaca identified the following peoples by name in his La Relacion (1542). Shown with the names he used are identifications with later known tribal groups from the region, suggested by scholars in 1919.[30]

In 1555, after a four year position as Adelantado in Rio de la Plata, Cabeza de Vaca recounts from memory a chronicle in South America.[32] It is believed that his secretary at the time, Pero Hernández, transcribes Cabeza de Vaca's account in what is known as Comentarios. The publication of Comentarios was appended to La relación as a joint publication in Valladolid, Spain titled: Naufragios. At that time, a public dissemination of observations in South America appear as the explorer traverses foreign land.

In 1906, a published version of Naufragios resurfaces in Madrid, Spain with an objective to portray Cabeza de Vaca less aggressive while attempting to authenticate his role as an observer and a sympathetic traveler to the natives.[33] It remains unclear as to what the motives and the purpose of this publication serve, historically and literarily. The introduction draws attention to the purpose of publicizing Cabeza de Vaca's observations and experiences in hopes to garner authentic representations.

Some researchers attribute Cabeza de Vaca’s La Relacion as the first major contribution to Chicano literature. For instance, scholars designate five major periods relating to Chicano Literature, the first being “Spanish Mexican.” The remaining four periods of Chicano Literature are regarded as Mexican American, Annexation, Chicano Renaissance, and modern Cabeza de Vaca takes on this role since he narrates his experiences of eight years of travel and survival in present-day Texas, New Mexico, and northern Mexico.[4] His account is also the first description of the American Southwest.[5]

The Moor's Account, a 2014 novel by Laila Lalami, is a fictional memoir of Estbanico, the Moroccan slave who survived the journey and accompanied Cabeza de Vaca—and who is thus the first black explorer of America. Lalami explains that nothing is known about him except for one line in Cabeza de Vaca's chronicle: "The fourth [survivor] is Estevanico, an Arab Negro from Azamor."[35]

Adorno, Rolena and Pautz, Patrick Charles. Alvar Nunez Cabeza De Vaca : His Account, His Life and the Expedition of Panfilo De Narvaez, 3 volumes, in English; University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln, London (1999); hardcover; ISBN 978-0803214637

^Cabeza de Vaca, Prologue, La Relacion (1542). Note: The surname Cabeza de Vaca (meaning "cow head") was granted to his mother's family in the 13th century, when his ancestor Martín Alhaja aided a Christian army attacking Moors by leaving a cow's head and a pile of rocks to point out a small secret mountain pass for their use.